Another press release announcing a twitter account

The journalist in me makes it impossible to stop reading press releases. I just can’t do it. Once a news assignment editor, always a news assignment editor apparently, and part of that job has always been to forage for news via press releases, police scanners, newspapers, beat calls, while eavesdropping during lunch or through any other means that brings in a good story.

But now, since I am no longer responsible for determining what to divulge to the masses during a 22 minute news hole, I’m reading and digesting them a bit differently.

I can now analyze them a bit, laugh at the long-winded nature of many who write them and look for cool things to share with people in my networks.

If you’re expecting a rant on this one, I may disappoint because I want to think this through a bit more as I type. It seems insane on the surface, but is it really any different than announcing a new product or service? If your twitter account is a new service, then perhaps it does require a press release. Today I came across 2Insure4Less.com announcing its new twitter page to “share insurance news and answer consumer questions.”

And before I say anything bad, I have to give them credit for not assuming that every reader would be well-versed on twitter as indicated in this excerpt:

The posts, commonly known as “tweets,” provide insurance-related guidelines, advice and news about legislation and others’ missteps.

They even take it a step further to announce what types of tweets a follower might expect to see:

Many tweets are for national or international trends or phenomena such as a link to a report from Insurance News Net about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s reinforcement of its tsunami warning systems within the United States since the Indonesia 2004 disaster. The article also describes the National Weather Service’s TsunamiReady program and shares recommendations from the Insurance Information Institute. Other posts address the interests of residents in specific states.

And if you want to read a few previous tweets, just to be sure following the account is a good idea, there’s this:

A December 28, 2009 tweet stated that consumers from the state of Washington have saved more than 300 million insurance dollars since 2000 and presents a link to the relevant news release from the state’s Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Another example is a link to a Medical News Today article about the effect that health care reform could have on Arkansas residents.

Now you actually know what to expect, and that’s not a bad thing. They are providing a service and letting people know about this new resource. I say, announce it as you please.

I started this post with the idea of discussing how some would argue that using old school methods such as press releases, (which Peter Shankman says will be dead in 22 months) to announce a twitter account is a bit backwards, but I haven’t even convinced myself that it is because I think it’s important to use as many tools as possible to get the word out and see nothing wrong with it. So I’m going in a new direction.

After reading that press release, I am now wondering what a spammers press release might look like, so I’ll take a stab at it. Here goes.

Today, we at SpammersRUs launched 4,563 twitter accounts and we are now following 89,342 twitter users, of which 65% are classified as ‘highly influential’ according to Topsy. This leads us to believe that we will reach an insane amount of users, compromise accounts across numerous continents and send people scrambling to create new passwords. Our followers can expect several Direct messages with links to salacious sites that could infect their computers or lead them to some really interesting adult websites. One tweet from January 12, 2009 promised great deals on Viagra and produced amazing click through rates which encourages us to continue.

I could go on but it would get pretty ridiculous. But you get the idea. So, is it backwards to post a press release about a new twitter account or is it savvy and smart? What are your thoughts?

Top Posts

Just so you know

This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
Feel free to challenge me, disagree with me, or tell me I’m completely nuts in the comments section of each blog entry.

Meta

7 comments

I appreciate your analysis of this PR approach in context of your background as a former assignment editor. As editorial staff dwindled in 2006, Todd Defren introduced the concept of a Social Media News Release (SMNR), which connected online media to social networks. SMNRs integrated Twitter and later Facebook Fan Pages into their value proposition. So rather than announcing the listening channels as a separate service, SMNRs included these community tools as a resource to engage with customers about a new product or service. Conversely, HubSpot’s 2009 study found that SMNRs are less likely to be syndicated on “portal websites” than press releases. HubSpot suggested using social media in one’s PR strategy, not in one’s press releases. Keeping with this logic, is it appropriate to circulate press releases announcing your PR strategy without attaching it to a product launch? Perhaps 2Insure4Less.com might have taken a permission marketing approach and sent such an announcement to their customers in the form of an e-mail inviting them to join the conversation on Twitter by tweeting a question. Using your customer base as your sample population for a twitter community would help define goals (e.g. conversation) and, in turn, measure desired outcomes (e.g. Klout measures Reach, Demand, Engagement, Velocity).

Interesting thoughts and insight A.M. McReynolds. I wonder if they did do some sort of permission marketing as you suggested in addition to posting a press release. I believe that many do that for nothing more than SEO purposes, though I am not saying that is the case here. It would also be nice if t hey found an audience hungry for this type of information and made them aware of their services as well. You know, I wonder if they see the launch of a twitter account as a PR strategy at all?

Interesting observation and insight, Angela. What if it’s a new twitter ID of a business leader? Would a Press Release then be appropriate? What’s the best way to announce it online/offline? Would be great to know your thoughts.

[…] And when Twitter rolled out guidelines for how news organizations should display their logos and the content of tweets on screen. I almost forgot about that one. I also remember noticing a trend of press releases announcing Twitter accounts, and even wrote about it on my old blog. […]